Sunday Read: Getting to Know Whistleblower Attorneys: Mychal Wilson
National Whistleblower Center (NWC) launched the “Getting to Know Whistleblower Attorneys” feature to explore the qualities and motivations of some of the field’s leading practitioners.
A practicing attorney and a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card-carrying actor, Mychal Wilson Esq., is one of the most visible whistleblower advocates in the United States. But his dedication to truth is no act. Prior to Wilson’s celebrity status, a career in pharma unexpectedly led him to whistleblower law. In this Sunday Read, NWC chronicles what inspired him to make the leap and how he continues to fight the good fight.
An Interview with Mychal Wilson, Esq.
NWC: What brought you to whistleblower law?
Mychal: It had to be fate because I had no idea about whistleblower law when I started law school.
I grew up on Capitol Hill in a diverse neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. and I majored in political science in college. Originally, I moved from New York City to Los Angeles for acting, and I needed a flexible day job such as pharmaceutical sales where I could work and have opportunity to audition during the day, and book TV and film gigs.
In the 1990s I was holding down jobs as an actor and being a top diabetes/cardiovascular (Glucophage, Pravachol, Plavix, and Monopril) sales representative for Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS).
Realizing I needed more skill sets, I enrolled at the Southwestern Law School evening program which was evenings, Monday through Thursday for first-year students. My BMS district business manager claimed this conflicted with my BMS job, where management directed that I wine and dine high-prescribing physicians at evening dinner events at expensive restaurants and sporting events.
Fortunately, I picked law school over partying with doctors.
Even though I was winning sales awards, I was being harassed and targeted by BMS management. I believe this was partially discriminatory because other employees were enrolled in business school and/or working in the real estate business, and they were not being harassed.
How did you react to this disparate treatment?
I hired an employment attorney and I eventually reported various fraud schemes employed by BMS, like kickbacks and off-label marketing. In 2004, I was terminated by BMS, and subsequently, I hired the law firm WatersKraus and filed a False Claims Act (FCA) case against BMS. In 2007, BMS settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $515 million for various kickback and pricing schemes, and in 2016 for $30 million with the California Department of Insurance.
Jumping just a bit, in 2005, I co-founded an entertainment firm, MindFusion Law, which represented actors, writers, directors, and indie films. In 2008, there was the great recession and the entertainment industry leaving Hollywood (Runaway Production). In 2009, I teamed up with family friend and “Super Lawyer” Brooks Cutter (Cutter Law) and started filing FCA cases. As both a relator and qui tam attorney, I have assisted state and federal government agencies in the recovery of more than $800 million in American taxpayer dollars.
How does your experience as an actor enhance your legal career? For example, are you able to more effectively emote or connect with a judge or jury (or even a client or witness)?
I think it is a combination of the acting and Big Pharma sales experience that enables me to connect with clients, witnesses, etc., especially when investigating whistleblower cases. I am still a member of SAG-AFTRA, so it helps when potential clients already know or recognize me. The acting experience is definitely helpful in being comfortable in front of the camera, especially when I became a media personality and began appearing on networks such as RT America, FOX, MSNBC, BBC, One America News, and CBS’ The Doctors, etc. Also, with the entertainment industry background and knowing the value of intellectual property, I trademarked terms such as “Celebrity Whistleblower Attorney” and “Legal Nostradamus,” which generated more whistleblower cases.
The acting experience and Hollywood background made it easier to create and host my own show, The Whistleblower. My legal experience enabled me to own its trademark in the U.S. and other countries.
Are you plugged in to the state of big pharma today?
I still connect with pharmaceutical and medical device sales representatives, and doctors from my Hollywood and Big Pharma days. For example, I serve on co-counsel in the unsealed medical device fraud matter United States of America ex rel. v. Medtronic, Inc., et al., 2:15-cv-01212-JAK-AS (CDCA). I met the relator through a friend and actor who had roles in The Spartans and The Gristle.
Is it safe to assume having been a whistleblower has been useful?
As a relator’s counsel, and having “been there, done that,” I am able to connect with whistleblowers on a more personal level and help advise them through their journey. More specifically, I am able to connect when investigating the merits of a whistleblower case by illustrating my own BMS experience.
For example, advising clients that just because their company may train, direct, and manage them to perform certain company directives, it does not mean that the conduct is necessarily legal. Especially, when dealing with marketing and sales representatives.
I find that a lot of potential relators need to be deprogrammed from their years of corporate guidance and brainwashing, and once this occurs, then so does the flow of their knowledge of the fraud and material evidence that may be in their possession.
What are the most common reasons whistleblowers come forward (in your experience)?
In my own experience and in my client matters, I believe whistleblowers come forward to seek equal justice and do the right thing after they experience some type of miscarriage of justice, such as harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. Generally, the potential for a financial reward is secondary, but it does play a key role in deciding whether or not to blow the whistle on the employer who is mistreating the whistleblower for reporting fraudulent corporate conduct.
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We will learn more about Mychal Wilson’s whistleblower career in a future edition of Sunday Read. Make sure to join NWC’s mailing list, subscribe to the newsletter on LinkedIn and follow us on Medium to ensure you get notifications for Part 2!
Strong Deliberations
The decision to come forward is not one to be taken lightly, nor should selecting a whistleblower lawyer. NWC provides resources that can connect you with the right legal professional.
Learn more about Mychal Wilson here.
You can also discern the type of whistleblower lawyer needed for your claim in Rules for Whistleblowers: A Handbook for Doing What’s Right, which was authored by NWC Founder and Chairman of the Board Stephen M. Kohn.
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